The knife is searching for disease—the
pulleys are dragging back dislocated limbs—nature
herself is working out the primal curse, which doomed
the tenderest of her creatures to the sharpest of
her trials; but the fierce extremity of suffering
has been steeped in the waters of forgetfulness, and
the deepest furrow in the knotted brow of agony has
been smoothed forever.

—Dr. Oliver
W. Holmes

On the evening of September 30, 1846, Mr. Eben Frost,
suffering from a violent toothache, called upon Dr.
W.T.G. Morton, of No. 19 Tremont Row, Boston, whose
office coincidentally shared the same address as the
Southworth & Hawes studio. Dr. Morton administered
the vapor of sulphuric ether to Mr. Frost and extracted
the tooth. The patient was “lost in sleep”
and “did not experience the slightest pain whatever.”

Less than three weeks later, the so-called “Death
of Pain” took place on October 16, when the
first public operation was performed with the aid
of ether. Dr. John Collins Warren, senior surgeon
at the Massachusetts General Hospital, administered
ether to his patient Gilbert Abbott in order to remove
a tumor from his neck. To commemorate this historic
and momentous event, Southworth and Hawes were asked
to daguerreotype a re-enactment of the operation.

In March 1847, Dr. John Collins Warren’s son,
Dr. J. Mason Warren, announced his discovery of a
simpler way to administer ether. Rather than having
a patient inhale the vapors from a flask, the doctor
placed an ether-soaked sponge over the patient’s
mouth and nose. This improved method was first used
on April 3 that same year by Dr. John Collins Warren
at Massachusetts General Hospital. The patient was
Athalana Golderman, a young seamstress. This time,
the actual operation was photographed as it took place.

Three or four weeks later, Southworth and Hawes were
again commissioned to record another operation. The
intent of this commission was to honor Dr. John Collins
Warren for his role in the ether discovery and for
his distinguished career on the eve of his retirement
as professor of anatomy at Harvard’s medical
school. The scene is arranged and composed as an anatomy
lesson with the principal subject being Dr. John Collins
Warren.